Shah Rukh Khan often speaks about the pressure that star kids feel when subjected to paparazzi. Yesterday, Shahid Kapoor’s wife, Mira Kapoor expressed her discomfort when her daughter, Misha, was clicked when they went to a garden. Soon after the photos of Misha’s playtime went viral, Mira posted on Instagram, “Guys please be kind. Let kids enjoy their childhood and leave the photographing to the parents.”

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Opportunity knocks, but once! Evicted in week 1 on disciplinary grounds, Priyank Sharma got the golden chance to enter the Bigg Boss 11 house as a Wild Card contestant

Priyank Sharma

Opportunity knocks, but once! Evicted in week 1 on disciplinary grounds, Priyank Sharma got the golden chance to enter the Bigg Boss 11 house as a Wild Card contestant. After weeks of being safe from persistent nomination, this week Priyank found himself in the bottom 2 against Luv Tyagi. As the votes came pouring in, Salman Khan revealed that Priyank’s time in the ‘Bigg Boss 11’ house is, indeed, up!

Priyank started his ‘Bigg Boss’ journey as part of the celebrity clan, but found himself evicted in Week 1 itself. Upon re-entry in the house, Priyank caused a massive stir by speaking about the various on-goings of the outside world. After multiple warnings from Salman Khan himself, Priyank decided to focus on his own game and formed an alliance with Hina Khan and Luv Tyagi. Staying true to his friendship with now-evicted contestant Hiten Tejwani, Priyank sacrificed his hair and went bald in order to save Hiten from eviction nomination. As a sanchalak, Priyank played a fair game and ensured that all gharwale follow the rules laid down by Bigg Boss. He also showed off his dance skills as he choreographed a number on Akash’s rap song – Yeh Hai Bigg Boss! Given the rollercoaster ride of emotions within the house, the friendship between Vikas and Priyank saw many ups and downs, until the two, finally buried the hatchet and renewed their friendship.

On his second eviction, Priyank said, “My experience in Bigg Boss was simply amazing. This is a life lesson that one cannot find anywhere else. I learnt a lot, made a few mistakes and did a few good things – so it has been a rollercoaster ride. I’ve become a better version of myself after this show.”

Priyank Sharma hails from New Delhi and has previously been part of numerous reality TV shows. He hopes to continue in the field of entertainment and wants to try out acting in fiction shows and focus on dancing as well.

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Yesterday, a snapshot of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and son Taimur, who are holidaying in Gstaad, Switzerland, went viral

Rumoured couple Sushant Singh Rajput and Kriti Sanon are throwing caution to the wind. The two are holidaying in Switzerland with pals, including filmmaker Dinesh Vijan. The actors have been sharing pictures from their vacation on Instagram. They will be ushering in 2018 on the Alps.

Yesterday, a snapshot of Saif Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor and son Taimur, who are holidaying in Gstaad, Switzerland, went viral. Taimur seems to be enjoying the winter on a snow sledge.

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In his upcoming directorial venture “83”, which is based on India’s first Cricket World Cup win in 1983, filmmaker Kabir Khan says his attempt is to let Ranveer Singh adapt the persona of veteran cricketer Kapil Dev, yet retain his identity

In his upcoming directorial venture “83”, which is based on India’s first Cricket World Cup win in 1983, filmmaker Kabir Khan says his attempt is to let Ranveer Singh adapt the persona of veteran cricketer Kapil Dev, yet retain his identity.

Underdog India outclassed mighty West Indies by 43 runs in the final played at the Lord’s on June 25, 1983 to lift their maiden World Cup under Dev’s leadership. “Audience knows he is Ranveer and he is going to play the role of Kapil Dev in the film. Today, there is technology to make Ranveer look exactly like him, but that is not the attempt.

Ranveer Singh

“He needs to get the persona of Dev and yet retain his identity as Ranveer. We want the audience to see and enjoy Ranveer playing Dev,” Kabir told PTI in an interview. He said Ranveer has already begun preparations for his role in the film.

“It is a simple brief to Ranveer. He just has to see Kapil Dev playing the game. The iconic body language of Kapil Dev, the way he used to bowl, bat. He (Dev) is monitoring it (training),” he added.

Kabir said the members of the 1983 World Cup team are set to supervise and coach the rest of the actors. Several members of the 1983 World Cup winning team, including manager Man Singh, were present at a function when the director announced the project.

The team members such as Roger Binny, K Srikkanth, Madan Lal, Yashpal Sharma, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Sandeep Patil had narrated some anecdotes dating back to the historic day. Kabir added he would not need to take “cinematic liberities” during the filming as, “there is lot of material, we have hours and hours of sessions with the cricketers (the players), so it is a gold mine of material.”

The “Bajrangi Bhaijaan” helmer said the team would be majorly shot in London and they have the support of cricket authorities like the ICC and BCCI. “We will be shooting mostly in London, the whole story is what happened in London. We can’t shoot for seven-eight days at Lord’s, it is not possible. But we do have the permission in place to shoot there.

“The whole cricket community from all over the world, whether it is the ICC or BCCI is helping. It is such a celebratory story about cricket that any cricketing body would like to support it,” Kabir said. The makers are yet to rope in actors who would essay the role of other team members.

Casting director Mukesh Chhabra is currently busy scouting for talent. “We are casting not only for the Indian team but West Indies as well. We have to cast for Sir Viv Richards and all the greats. So, there will be lot of foreign actors.

“There is no leading lady as such in the normal way that we look at Indian cinema. It is a true story about a team, so obviously their wives will be there, they are central characters,” he said.

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Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji who released the trailer of her film Hichki says a female actor’s calibre and box office worth should not be determined by her marital status

Actor Rani Mukerji says a female actor’s calibre and box office worth should not be determined by her marital status. Rani, 39, who gave critical and commercial success “Mardaani” post her marriage to filmmaker Aditya Chopra, is now gearing up for the release of her next “Hichki”, which marks her first after the birth of her daughter, Adira. The actor believes, for a secure future of married female actors, mindset of the society needs to change.

Rani Mukerji

“… Times are changing. In the West, there has never been any discrimination. They don’t have any hichki (hiccups). Yes, over here we do have that… and it’ll go away if we work on it. It is in everybody’s mindset,” Rani said.

“If you see an actor and go watch her film without tagging her as a ‘woman who is married or has a kid’, you will just see the character and the actress who is playing it. But if you’re going to judge the actor on the basis of what’s going on in her personal life, these things will keep coming up. You have to come to the theatre sans these (hiccups). You have to see the actor for what is her worth in the cinema hall,” she added.

Rani was speaking at the trailer launch of “Hichki”, directed by Siddharth P Malhotra. The Yash Raj Films project is scheduled to be released on February 28.

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Along with the images of three of her sketches, she posted: “I draw to find myself and lose myself at the same time. Sharing some of my sketches with you… art by Sonakshi, my meditation”.

A number of actors in the Hindi film industry have taken to different mediums as a source of meditation like superstar Salman Khan is known for painting, Akshay Kumar practices Tai Chi when he is not shooting.

Vidya Balan is good with poetry and mimicry when she is in the mood, Twinkle Khanna has become an author, Kangana Ranaut loves cooking, Ranveer Singh likes to rap, Dia is now a certified pottery enthusiast and Aamir Khan loves his chessboard.

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Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma who tied the knot with cricketer Virat Kohli has sent out eco-friendly invites to her guests for her wedding reception in Mumbai

Anushka Sharma and her cricketer husband Virat Kohli already smashed patriarchy and stereotypes by their surprise wedding last week. The couple tied the knot in presence of just 44 guests in Tuscany, Italy which included just close family and friends. Anushka and Virat who are scheduled to return to India today, have already sent out invites to their celebrity friends. But the surprising part is, along with their marriage being the one to break stereotypes, their invites are eco-friendly and in lieu with environment conservation. The couple has been extremely mindful about sending proper invites to their respective fraternities and the invites include a sapling.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt shared the picture of their invitation card on his Twitter account.

They made it ! Our heartiest congratulations to Anushka & Virat. We pray that this love story goes on forever and ever. Amen !@imVkohli @anushkasharmapic.twitter.com/dk9sqm4WgU

— Mahesh Bhatt (@MaheshNBhatt)
December 13, 2017

Bollywood’s superstars Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan are said to be a part of the exclusive guest list. The Virushka reception will take place on 22nd December in Mumbai. There will be a reception on 21st December in Delhi. Post which the couple will travel to South Africa with Virat’s imminent move to the couple’s plush pad in South Mumbai.

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Emotions make us human and in this game of BB Lab, contestants have to do their best to mask their feelings. Today, the tables turn as Vikas, Shilpa, Luv and Arshi become robots while Hina, Priyank, Hiten and Akash take on the role of Karamchari

Emotions make us human and in this game of BB Lab, contestants have to do their best to mask their feelings. Today, the tables turn as Vikas, Shilpa, Luv and Arshi become robots while Hina, Priyank, Hiten and Akash take on the role of Karamchari. Mad scientist and sanchalak Puneesh Sharma’s experiment on emotions in the laboratory will turn out to be a golden opportunity for the contestants to aptly convey their feelings for each other.

Known for being grounded and sorted, Hiten Tejwani today reveals a new side of his personality. In a bid to win the task, he dons the avatar of Arshi Khan. Mimicking her accurately, Robots Vikas, Shilpa and even Arshi appreciate his attempt of making them laugh.

On day 2 of this ’emotional task’, karamchari Hina Khan and Priyank Sharma are set to plot out the perfect revenge against Robot Vikas. Masking their real grudges in the name of the task, they let out their hidden sentiments that have been bottled up until now. Hina very angrily tells Vikas that he is good to Shilpa only because he fears her and makes him aware that he lacks chivalry. Priyank then lashes out at Vikas saying that it was wrong of him to drag Benafsha and Divya in the game for the sake of winning the task.

How will Vikas react to these allegations?

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Director Akshat Verma says Saif Ali Khan was the first choice for his directorial venture ‘Kaalakaandi’ but at one point the makers did approach Fawad Khan to play the same part

Director Akshat Verma says Saif Ali Khan was the first choice for his directorial venture “Kaalakaandi” but at one point the makers did approach Fawad Khan to play the same part. Akshat has revealed that when the film was with UTV, they were in talks with Fawad to play the role, which is now being played by Saif. “Fawad was supposed to be one of the actors we talked to when the project was with UTV. It was around 2013… He was going to play the role Saif plays. But ultimately everything happens for a reason and for the best. No one could have done the role better than Saif,” Akshat says in an interview with PTI.

“Kaalakaandi” chronicles the story of six characters from different worlds of Mumbai in a span of 12 hours and how the lives of complete strangers intersect. Interestingly, Akshat says his “instinct for Saif was right” as he had written the film initially keeping him in mind. “When I first messaged Saif, I didn’t get a reply from him. When I finally met him, it was almost two years to the date I had texted him, and I still have the message saved. “This time, he had read the script because Ashi (Dua, one of the producers) had sent it to him. He said ‘ok we are on’ in five minutes. So the time period was, on one hand two years and on the other, just five minutes to get Saif,” he adds. Akshat dived into the world of “Kaalakaandi” right after his big hit “Delhi Belly”, which he had written. He took nearly a year to write the script of “Kaalakaandi” but the project went through “a mad roller coaster ride.” “It is common knowledge that the film was earlier with UTV, we were about to shoot but four days before that the project was shut down. After that things fell apart, we had to put it together again.

Everything takes time,” he said. Both “Delhi Belly” and “Kaalakaandi” fall in the genre of dark comedy, which is rarely explored in Bollywood. When asked is it because his scripts are so unconventional that people don’t really understand his language and vision, Akshat says, “Often people say they enjoy the script, love it, but (it is) not enough to make it as a film. It is like breaking up with someone by saying ‘I love you but not enough to marry you.'” But can the waiting period be frustrating and the director says, “it is the most disappointing part”. “You feel that the time seems to move in six months chunk.

Suddenly you look up and the year has gone by, it seems you haven’t done anything. You have been trying, waiting, they (makers) read your script, get back to you, six months have gone by and then they say ‘no,'” he said. In this scenario–where a project is being delayed and people are not willing to back your vision– Akshat says the only way to keep himself motivated was by being “stubborn.” Produced by Cinestaan Film Company and Ashi Dua Sara of Flying Unicorn, the film stars Saif along with Deepak Dobriyal, Vijay Raaz, Kunaal Roy Kapoor, Sobhita Dhulipala, Akshay Oberoi, Isha Talwar, Shenaz Treasury, Shivam Patil, Amyra Dastur and Neil Bhoopalam. “Kaalakaandi” is scheduled to release on January 12 next year.

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In an in-depth chat, held before a live audience at IFFI, Goa, Sushant Singh Rajput dives deep to reveal his fundas, on life and films

As we entered the Bioscope Village, a tent-pole cinema, temporarily created for the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa, the collective chants across the venue made it seem like we were at a political rally. If you heard closely, the audiences weren’t screaming, “Modi, Modi, Modi.” They were in fact yelling something sounding similar — “Dhoni, Dhoni, Dhoni” — looking at actor Sushant Singh Rajput, whose performance as India’s top cricketer MS Dhoni on screen, remains his best known work yet. Also the crowd, a lot of them kids, had returned from a show of Neeraj Pandey’s MS Dhoni: The Untold Story, held right before.

Sushant Singh Rajput

Rajput calmed the audience down a bit, repeating his favourite moment/line from the film, which is Dhoni’s mother telling herself that her son won’t be satisfied with little — he’ll always aim for more. That sort of set the tone for this interview, which appeared as much a psychologist’s take on life/films, as a motivational speech for the young.

Excerpts from the conversation

Here’s what you often confess in your conversations — that you’re an introvert, not much of a talker, suffer from stage fright (or at least did). Now, these are exactly the reasons why someone may not turn into an actor. In your case, you’ve mentioned, that was exactly why you did. What does that mean?Genuinely, this is essentially the problem I have with the education system globally. We’re taught that there is one right, definite answer to a question. As a result, we are increasingly become good at thinking, and convincing ourselves, about the only one correct answer.

Normally, what’s missing is the skill of asking questions. And that can come with the understanding of the fact that no matter how good or passionate you are about a job, you can create something new, only when you’re aware that you’re standing on an assumption. You have to question that assumption. If that question is engaging enough, you don’t think about results, or acknowledgements. Of course, you’ll like it if there is acknowledgement for your work. But that is not why you do it. Having a personal question, and moving in that direction, is important enough.

There is a thought I’d read once, which I didn’t understand then, is about how experts have the most informed answers. But they’re not experts at asking questions. The kids have the best questions. The pattern one notices about creative people, who do something new, is they’re a combination of someone who asks questions like a child, and attempts to answer employing the method of an expert.

Now to answer your question, we are all story-tellers, and we’re acting all the time. The issue I always had was over how I should pretend to not show what I’m feeling. This went on for many years. And then I learnt a little about acting. Since I had learnt some acting, then I thought I may as well become an actor, and earn from it. But that shyness, and the hunger to find a great way to tell a story, hasn’t left me yet.

You’ve in fact said that since you were shy, it seemed easier to hide behind other people, or characters.Exactly. When you know you’re standing on assumptions, you don’t take yourself seriously. And when that happens, it becomes dramatically easier to play other people.

Your first brush with performance art was actually through dance; is that how you began to feel most comfortable, expressing yourself publicly?Absolutely, I was never good at expressing myself. I would think something, but when I would say it, it would seem like there’s something amiss. And I didn’t think of it as an issue, because I was happy being a science student, studying engineering. Around the time I joined dance school, and when I was on stage, performing, I felt that I could actually communicate, even without words. I could see the audience getting affected by what I was doing on stage. That was a start for sure; and then I thought, let’s use the help of words also. I began doing theatre.

Let’s look at your journey: you were academically bright, worked with (theatre director) Barry John, moved from theatre, television, to films, and also moved from Delhi to Mumbai. That’s totally Shah Rukh Khan, isn’t it?There’s also a line in Shah Rukh Khan’s film (Om Shanti Om), “Kabhi kisi cheez ko shiddat se chaho, toh saari kaynaat… (If you will it; it happens).” I was a little stupid, and so I took it rather seriously. But I can tell you one thing — that it works. Of course, we may all love the fame and the riches, but importantly, if something interests you a whole lot, it’s fine to aim for it, and dream big.

There’s a term in psychology that you quote often: Impact bias. By which you mean that when you actually achieve what you dream for, it doesn’t seem all that significant after all.It’s a popular subject in behavioural economics, and it’s revolutionary, because it’s counter-intuitive to how we usually think. There was an experiment done with two groups. One had an extremely bright set of CEOs in their early 20s and 30s. The other group comprised people below the poverty line. Now the first group, for some reason, had become disabled — paraplegics. The second group had just won a million dollar lottery. There was a downward mental spike recorded in the case of the first group, and equally upward, in the second.

Now, I’m not talking about months or years, but after just 10 to 12 weeks, when the same two groups were tested, their mental spikes had stabilised to exactly the same levels already. This tells you something — successes or failures actually don’t affect us in the same way that we imagine they would. If you enjoy a process itself though, you get so good at the skill, that it automatically places you in the top percentile of people on the (happiness) index.

This ‘impact bias’ realisation, I’m told, happened to you once when you’d begun hanging out at malls. You’d become famous, thanks to television. You loved being recognised. Soon enough you stopped enjoying the attention. Is that true?No, what I’m trying to say is that public acknowledgement is a good feeling, and one can’t be immune to it. But when we are actually at work — there is no one around, the pay cheque isn’t staring at you, neither is there fear or exhilaration at how people will perceive your work.

The work being good is all you care about. Sunil Gavaskar once said that if God gave him a super power, he would really want to get inside MS Dhoni’s head, and examine how and what he thinks. And Dhoni told me just this: As much as he loves this nation, and his team, when he’s actually there in the middle (in a match), he doesn’t think about those things. He can only see the ball. It’s the same in the Mahabharat, with Arjun only being able to see the fish’s eye.

Back to movies. Every few years, there’s often one film, quite out of the blue, that spawns a mini-industry of talents. Kundan Shah’s Jaane Bhi Do Yaaro (1983), with an almost all-new cast and crew (Sudhir Mishra as a young writer, Satish Kaushik as writer-actor, Vidhu Vinod Chopra as production controller) was one. Or Ram Gopal Varma’s Satya (1998, with Anurag Kashyap as writer, Saurabh Shukla as actor-writer, Vishal Bharadwaj as music composer, among others) was another. Of late, do you think Kai Po Che (2013) falls into that category? You debuted with it. Rajkumar Rao had his first big role in it. He’s had a great run. Amit Sadh’s popular, the film picked up top screenwriting awards…Again, here I’d like to highlight that we have a tendency to sense a design, when something works out well. And I’m not just speaking about Kai Po Che. The same sense of design isn’t as strong, when we have to predict the future. Often, it happens, that we put together all the diggaj (veteran) talents with a great story to tell, and it doesn’t work out. There is a reason for that.When Rajkummar, Amit and I were working on Kai Po Che, with (director) Abhishek Kapoor, we were absolutely certain on what we must not do, given a strong understanding of the script. But none of us were sure on exactly what we must do, including the director, who was flexible enough to trust us, and let us be. It’s not that something great came out of every shot. We tried various ways. And this is important to understand — we derive security from prediction, which is evolutionary. But preparation is only essential to know what not to do. No one can be in control, when you’re creating something new — you have to cut yourself loose.

Looking ahead, now that you’re a star, what’s becoming far more essential for that job, unlike as much back in the day, is an incredible script sense. How are you honing that craft?I just have to able to personally react to a script — without looking at other factors, like its possible resonance among the public, or its commercially viability. If there is something I want to understand about a character and I’m unable to, I know that would be engaging enough for me to spend five to six months on it. It’s like, when I was studying for engineering, I would get an hour and half of play-time. I would wait for that moment, and when I’d go out, I would be so engaged — that time would seemingly get over in five minutes!

Now my instincts are very likely to go wrong. But this is absolutely the time to encourage failure, rather than success. To give you an example, according to research, 65 per cent of the school kids right now will eventually take up jobs that don’t currently exist. The disruptive technology to enable those jobs is yet to happen. We’re at the stage of deception, since we’re unaware. What can you teach those kids then? That it’s okay to fail, because the rate of change is such. Bearing that in mind, it’s important to stress on emotional intelligence, and lack of stress.

Sushant Singh Rajput

Don’t want to take names, still, if you do a film like Raabta, do you sense a disconnect between what was the script, and what became the film?Absolutely, I’ve never done a play, TV show, or film, where what I’d thought in my head is exactly how it turned out to be — for better or worse. Because you have no idea the choices the director, the music composer, or the editor, will take. It’s too collaborative a process for anyone to know, no matter what our intentions, which are inevitably good. I’m absolutely fine with the idea of knowing that I’m wrong, nine out of ten times.

Speaking of the three media you’ve been part of, how important is the size of the screen for you as an actor anymore, given that theatrical footfalls are dropping, and the web is probably where the best of the world’s stories are being told?There is in fact an even bigger thing on its way, on which I’d like to take a chance, while it’s foolish to predict. Let’s go back in time, for instance, and look at when the talkies came in, and all the actors (who were part of silent cinema) assumed nothing would happen. A whole lot did.

The most important aspect of a visual medium is to create an illusion, and convince you, that what’s happening is for real. Along with visuals, sound took it to another level. But the one thing that’ll change everything, virtual reality (VR), is already here, and it’s not a small transition.

Within five to six seconds in VR, you lose your objectivity on the fact that you’re viewing something. You become part of an actual experience. This is going to disrupt cinema, like how! I’m not saying story-telling will die. But films, as we know them, will drastically change. Everyone should think about it.

Surely you’re looking at virtual reality closely, but your next big step apart from films, I’m told, is going back to theatre!Well I’ve been planning a play for a year now. I have to look at too many small things on that front. Unless we are totally enjoying ourselves with every aspect, we won’t step out with it. When we learn acting — or think that we’re learning — we’re taught about the fourth wall, which can be a live audience, or a TV camera, or a film camera, depending on the medium. In every case, you’re taught to forget the fourth wall anyway. So the idea of theatre to TV to film, as natural progression or graduation, is wrong. It doesn’t matter.

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